Share
2012 Gear Guide: Alpine
Dig out your crampons and sharpen your ice axes: Here's the best alpine climbing gear of 2012.
Crampon Reviews
Climbing magazine's gear testers are out all winter (and much of the summer, too, on high mountains around the world), and they try out nearly every new crampon that comes onto the market. These reviews offer expert advice on the best crampons for your favorite style of mountaineering, from snow slogs to dry tooling.
-
-
Hot Steel for Cold Ice
If steep, technical ice flows make you shiver with delight, check out the Griven G22 Crampons ($225, grivel.com). One tester spent four days climbing fresh ice in Cody, Wyoming, and was amazed at how well the G22s (available in one size) penetrated dense water ice.
-
Grivel G14
Grivel has gotten the semi-rigid design for ice climbing crampons just right: thanks in large part to the horizontal framing, the G14 is very clean — and less prone to balling (although anti-bots are available and 50% cheaper if purchased with the crampons).
-
Simond Pitbull Speed RS Crampon Review
At the Pitbull’s pricepoint, a crampon should come packaged with all the latest whistles and bells, it better have significant design and performance advantages over the competition, and it ought to include a decent bottle of single-malt whisky.
